In recent years, the requirement for dimmers, that is to say for devices which permit the brightness of illumination bodies to be varied, has increased continuously. Conventional incandescent lamps and halogen lamps can be dimmed with a relatively low expenditure, and there is a large number of devices of this type on the market.
Dimming in the case of fluorescent tubes, especially in the case of compact lamps having electronic ballasts, has a somewhat more complicated configuration. For compact lamps there are still virtually no usable solutions on the market. It is the object of the invention to present a simple, operationally reliable and economical solution.